


The Dangerous Wood

by hackle



Series: Not!Fic Adventures [1]
Category: Avengers (Comics), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Gift Work, Not!Fic, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-12
Updated: 2013-02-12
Packaged: 2017-11-29 01:47:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/681317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hackle/pseuds/hackle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>”Be wary of the woods, young child,” says the good mothers and fathers who tuck their sons and daughters beneath warm blankets.</p><p>“Be wary,” They say. “Fore the JARVIS that lives there.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Dangerous Wood

"Be wary of the woods, young child," says the good mothers and fathers who tuck their sons and daughters beneath warm blankets.

"Be wary," They say. "Fore the JARVIS that lives there."

An old wives' tale to some but very real to others, thus the tale surviving these last twenty years.

JARVIS is a hellish wizard, a monster, a glowing blue entity that shouts down fire from the skies and sends his mechanical men to lay waste to his enemies.  
Who sends his minions to snatch children from their beds to never be seen nor heard from again.

"Oh but only the bad children," the parents will caution, wry smiles hidden within their solemn words.

"Only the bad children like the King's son who spent his days in revelry, ignoring his princely duties and consorting with the serfs. Or like the Herald's son and Potter's daughter that helped free the dark skinned stranger that had been captured on the edge of the King's lands."  
  
"But mummy, daddy," the children sometimes cry. "What about the Alchemist's grandson? The one that tamed the spiders? He was a good boy! He was the best!" And that would stump most parents but the most stubborn.

Those would answer, "But it is because he tamed the spiders, my precious. We all know the spiders are a wicked sort."

That excuse was flimsy of course but it placated the most tame of children.  
  
"The JARVIS, evil creature that he is, knows all," they whisper, a last warning as they stand to leave their brood tucked safe into their beds. "He has spies that perch high in the trees and can spot the misbehaved. Spies that can walk among the common folk on whispered feet and be unseen until they've found their prey and only then do they shed the flesh of a man and become a great green beast."

This makes most children duck their heads and offer promises to be good.  
  
But not all children believe those tales even though they will pretend and promise to be good little boys and girls for their parents' sake.

Some of these young minds, so full of curiosity and childish arrogance, will steal to the edges of the Dark Wood where it's said the JARVIS lives. They will toe the edges and make calls into the trees, boasting of their disbelief.

The bravest will even dare to venture a full measure into the underbrush just to prove there's nothing to fear. They will never accept the stories are true until another goes missing and then they know fear.

But there are some who believe the tales and still are not afraid. These are the foolhardy. These are the ones that fill the ranks of the SHIELD; the most high amid the royal guard. These are the ones that follow the Fury's orders and charge fearless into battle. These most revered of soldiers who have even now been assembled.

Their task: Find and slay the JARVIS.  
  
The redheaded rogue known only as The Black Widow, the huntsman with the silver arm, Sir James, the court's highest magician and sage, High-mage Laufeyson who is said to have lost his older brother to evil that curls dark and looming in the woods. There is also the spymaster known only as the Son of Coul and is The Fury's most trusted. There are others: Sir Wilson (the falconer), the Chirurgeon Moira (a rare female doctor among the court), Lady Greer (an amazing acrobatic combatant).

These warriors are the best of the best. But no one can be sure if they will be enough to conquer the JARVIS of the wood and, once and for all, put to rest all those that were lost to the evil being's depravity.

And leading them all, at the behest of the aging King of Stark, is Commander Steven, the most renowned and victorious of the royal guard. He wears the favor of the nation upon his breast (a tabard of red and blue) and a shield adorned with the shining star of the nation.  
  
But is this creature only known as JARVIS really as foul and wicked as the stories have said?

Are all those that haven been lost really been taken?

What happens when this band of virtuous warriors stumble upon a den of waifs protected by a mysterious spice-dark beauty with hair the color of fresh snow who laughs at their task behind a bank of fog that rolls in to obscure the children's escape.

**UNRAVEL THE MYSTERY FOR YOURSELF IN: _The Dangerous Wood_ **

**Author's Note:**

> Avengers AU not!fic for Marr (ironfries) on tumblr. Probably will expand this into a series of little not!fics to chronicle the adventures of the characters involved.


End file.
